Remembrance Sunday ... not this year.
I suddenly realised at lunch time today that I could not bear to attend the Remembrance Sunday observances this year. It is not that I have no regard for our armed forces or no thought to the sacrifices they make on our behalf. Quite the contrary. My father was a regular soldier, RSM of his regiment, at the outbreak of WWII. He fought his way up and down North Africa with the 8th Army, then through Italy, ending in Trieste, where he was a bulwark against the aggressive intentions of Tito's Yugoslavia. Then he was posted to Malaya for the emergency, where he met his end in 1950. "All through the war without a scratch, and now this!" my mother said. I also did my time in HM forces. Sixteen years. But today I suddenly understood that the ratification of Lisbon meant that we had belatedly lost the Second World War and joined the Greater Reich. All the sacrifices of those who died, and all the hardships of the Home Front came to nothing when Brown surrendered our country in his hole-in-the-corner signing ceremony. It should have taken place on Luneburg Heath! Maybe you think this is an extreme reaction, and perhaps it is. But I can't stand around a war memorial reflecting that "they died that we might live" in freedom under our sovereign Lady the Queen. They didn't. What they had preserved for us, Brown gave away without so much as a by-your-leave. Damn him! They died for nothing.

They died for nothing. Naw, they didn't. They died so that future generations would have a choice. Just because future generations are giving away that choice, doesn't mean they died for nowt imo.

Thank you Dog. Words of comfort.

Also, we observe Remembrance Sunday not only to acknowledge those who served but to remind ourselves that war has consequences. We should also encourage us to learn the lessons, but we never seem to do that. There was an awesome atmosphere in London yesterday, and a strong sense of pride mingling with the sadness. I'm glad I went. I wore my medal, not to show off (there were many with far more than I have), but in honour of comrades past and present. For our tomorrow they gave their today. Bulldog is right. They bought us our freedom. It is not their fault if we choose to abuse or give away that freedom. Part of freedom is having that choice.